| Description | Bath Row was the first permanent branch meeting set up by members of Bull Street in 1872 in order to alleviate overcrowding at Bull Street Meeting House where membership had increased to such an extent that there was insufficient space in the meeting house. The new branch meeting gathered in a school room hired for the purpose in Bath Row. In 1892 the Sunday morning congregation had reached 77. Charles Dickenson Sturge and Eliza Mary Sturge who lived in the area, purchased land on the corner of St. James Road and George Road from the Calthorpe Estate and donated it to the Trustees of the Society of Friends so that a purpose-built meeting house could be constructed. Following the passing of an act of Parliament, giving religious bodies the right to acquire freehold of their premises bodies, a license was issued by the Calthorpe Estate giving permission for a single storey building to be constructed and the new meeting house on George Road was opened in 1893. By 1908, George Road Meeting was the second largest meeting in Birmingham, with 146 members and 31 attenders. There was an Adult School connected to George Road Preparative Meeting.
Edgbaston Local Meeting closed on 31 December 2020.
Additional records relating to George Road Preparative Meeting can be found in SF/3/4.
See SF/3 for a description of the functions of the Local/Preparative Meeting. |